He’s already the 145-pound champion and carried an 11-fight win-streak into the UFC 218 main event against Jose Aldo.

But his performance against the longtime featherweight champ was notable anyway.

Just like Holloway did the first time he beat Aldo, the 25-year-old allowed Aldo to dictate the pace early in the fight. Aldo hit him with some good shots, but Holloway kept fighting his fight.

By midway through the third round, it was painfully obvious that Holloway wasn’t losing, and he finished the fight with a vicious barrage of punches on the ground.

The Hawaiian has asserted himself as his generation’s dominant featherweight, and fans should expect him to have a long reign as the 145-pound king.

TOO BAD

It’s truly a shame that so many fans only came to know Jose Aldo over the last couple of years, when he was getting relentless mocked – and then knocked out cold – by McGregor and then thoroughly beaten twice by Holloway.

This is one of the greatest fighters of all time and a guy who seemed all but unbeatable for the better part of a decade.

On Saturday night, though, his time at the top officially ended.

Aldo will go into the UFC Hall of Fame and will always be a legend in Brazil, but he’s just not on the same level as Holloway, and hopefully he can accept that.

Are there big fights in Aldo’s future? Probably, but there shouldn’t be title fights.

SMART CEJUDO

Henry Cejudo would have been totally justified if he’d called out flyweight champion Demetrious Johnson on Saturday night after he beat Sergio Pettis.

That’s not how Cejudo played things, though.

The Olympic wrestling gold medallist acknowledged that he’d love a second crack at fighting for the title, but admitted that he understood if the UFC wanted to promote a superfight between Johnson and bantamweight champion T.J. Dillashaw instead.

White all but confirmed that fight was booked in the post-fight press conference, so Cejudo will have to wait.

But by not raising a fuss, he probably got himself in the boss’s good books.

Cejudo’s time will come, but good on him for recognizing that the best thing for the flyweight division is if he waits a while.

VERY GOOD, IF NOT GREAT

Did UFC 218 get the world talking the way the promotion’s previous pay-per-view did a month ago? No, but UFC 217 in New York City was a once-in-a-generation card.

Saturday night was never going to be that. It was a very strong card from top-to-bottom with the potential to get people talking about the next generation.

On that level, it delivered.

The card also featured a couple truly spectacular fights, as both the Eddie Alvarez-Justin Gaethje scrap and the Yancy Medeiros-Alex Oliveira showdown were genuinely thrilling, back-and-forth wars.

Plus, it had Ngannou.

Not every card is going to be a blockbuster. UFC 218 wasn’t.

But it set up future blockbusters and gave MMA fans a lot to talk about.

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